Spanish....or something like it...

This post is dedicated solely to the Spanish language. For the past week I have been in Spanish classes at VOS Buenos Aires. And thank GOD for that. I arrived in Buenos Aires and I knew a lot of Spanish, but within minutes of being in this city I realized I could barely understand a single person here. Not because I didn't know Spanish but because the people here were not speaking anything close to Spanish. The amount of sh/j sounds in this language is like a combination between an Italian and a Portuguese person but speaking Spanish words. All of the ll's and the y's are this sort of j/sh sound. Also, not a single person here, besides the foreigners use the word tu....its all vos. Yes that ridiculous tense that your Spanish teacher assured you that you would never need to know....its common place here in Buenos Aires.


Now for a message from the boring historian/linguist that apparently inhabits some part of my brain on how the Buenos Aires dialect and unique language developed. If history and knowledge are very boring to you then you should probably skip down and ignore the next few paragraphs and skip down to the row of yellow asterisks. 


 Basically, Buenos Aires as I said before is a port town, which means there are a lot of immigrants that came to the country, and still do on a regular basis. A large majority of those immigrants came from Italy and another large portion came from other places in Latin America and yet another influx of immigrants and tourists came from France and had an influence on the development of Argentine culture. When the city developed it basically had two main sections divided by social and economic class. The lower portion of the city was the poor immigrants with little to no education and the upper portion of the city was the wealthy and educated class in the country. Can you believe some people are skipping this information and just going to the yellow asterisks....I mean seriously would reading a few paragraphs and expanding your intellectual prowess about the Argentina Spanish dialect really kill you....some people... Anyways, in the poorer section of the city is where the people began to mix all of their cultures together and create a sort of melting pot. Similar to the United States in the development of truly unique mixed cultures in poorer immigrant populations. 


Part of the development was purely cultural. Certain activities and games developed along the docks and immigrant communities. Most notably, what developed in these communities was the Tango. When I say Tango I don't just mean the dance, rather I mean the dance, the songs, the language/slang aka Lunfardo, and I mean the attitude. I will digress however back to the topic of language since I will be doing a whole post on the Tango....no worries I will link back to this for the history lesson rather than being one of those teachers who talks about the same thing over and over and over again. 


In typical fashion, the communities of the northern parts of the city resisted any and all changes to the "pure" culture that they belonged. I think this is probably the reason Porteños use the vos pronoun and its endings while at the same time changing all sorts of pronunciations. Its like the compromise between the poor and wealth or the upper and lower class can be seen within the language itself. Like we'll pronounce things like we have mouth full of food and phlegm in our throats if you keep using vos and other outdated words.


Its funny how, even though I haven't been here that long, I've noticed that there seems to be this desire in Argentina to separate itself from the rest of Latin America. The majority seem to want to be seen on a world stage as more than just a country with a past riddled with corruption and ruled by dictators. Their language though doesn't allow anyone to forget their history though. Their original conquerors were Spaniards who used the words vos and then immigrant populations came in and with each new population the language changed just slightly in pronunciation but clung to the basic grammar of the Spaniards. Even the development of their slang hints at major points and people in their history. It truly is fascinating! (To me at least)


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To those of you that read the history...congratulations


 Suffice it to say I was a little nervous about being here for 3 months before I took my Spanish classes. I still have another week of classes to go, but I am confident that I will be okay by the time I'm done and will be fluent enough in this weird dialect by the time I leave.


Besides all of the fun sounds that the Porteños/Argentines make when speaking there are a lot of words that are totally different and new to me (including some slang which is not necessarily appropriate for everyone so if you might be offended or your parents might not like you reading stuff.....THANKS FOR READING MY BLOG AND GO TO BED)


Okay now a list of some of the words that I find absolutely fascinating(They are all color coded..blue is the word is just slang, yellow is the word is slightly offensive, red is the word is pretty offensive and would probably be part of my normal vernacular with my friends in the US):


Let's start with a fairly tame one just in case someone didn't heed my warning from above...


Che-- This is a term that the Porteños use to talk to each other. I find that they only use it if they're trying to get your attention like, Hey Che.... It is actually a word that again is history related. Where the term actually came from I don't know, but thanks to some Porteños who read my blog I can tell you it is far older than the most famous Che in history. The famous revolutionary that many know as Che Guevara was actually a Porteño who people referred to as Che. For those of you who have been living under a rock....or had a terrible history teacher....Che Guevara was one of the major leaders in the Cuban Revolution and you can often find his face on the t-shirt of your local hipster.


Trucho-- This one sort of means fake. Not exactly. Its someone who is being scheisty really if that makes sense. Sort of used car salesman-esque.


Una buean onda---I had never heard this one and the Porteños use it for a lot of stuff. Basically I would say its like good vibes. It literally means good waves...but its like cool or a good atmosphere or just a general good gut feeling about something.


Falopa--This is a word that of course I learned when searching for internships...its actually like slang for drugs. But it can also be used for drug addict....basically its sort of like druggie.


Gato/a-- You would think that this word is cat....not the case. It is if you're talking about a cat, but if you use it in reference to a female you are basically calling her a big old slut bag. I do not know where that came from and have no explanation for it. If you are using it to talk about a guy you are basically calling him gay, its sort of derogatory but not really. Its like the equivalent of calling a gay guy in the States a fairy. Again...no idea where these came from, but they are what they are.


Puto/a-- In school and in movies I of course learned this word as bitch like I'm sure most of you did. Oddly enough I have never heard someone use it in that sense yet. It does get used to call a woman a whore (punta, which is sort of similar to how I learned it). When used to describe a guy it's sort of a slightly more aggressive form of bitchy queen....which again I guess makes sense.


Culo--This is an easy one for anyone who has ever been in a middle school Spanish class...ass


Quilombo--Another one that I have a hard time giving a definition to so I will simply describe it. Anyone who has ever seen that girl coming home from the bar shitfaced, hair a mess, holding one of her heels in her hand while one is still on her foot, slightly stumbling/maybe holding onto her boyfriend, all while telling some ridiculous story that doesn't matter...she would be quilombo...its sort of like mess.


Borracho--This one I think is straight out of the Spanish dictionary...just a drunk


Bolazo--You might hear a lot of people say this to their friends. It means bullshit basically. Not necessarily a negative connotation. Its like when one of your friends starts to tell an embarrassing story about you and you shout Bullshit that is not what happened and then proceed to tell the story in the same way just justifying your actions. I like this one a lot.


Boliche--The equivalent of a disco in Europe....sort of like a ridiculous night club. Most don't even open until like 1 AM and then they don't get busy until like 3AM so if someone asks you to go to a boliche expect a long night and to be a quilombo by 8.


Colectivo/micro-- Either one of these words actually refer to the, what must be hundreds, of buses that run throughout this city. It really is ridiculous. They are everywhere and stop everywhere. The Guia T is my best friend.


Bombilla--This is the word that I learned meant lightbulb. Again not the case here in Buenos Aires. This actually refers to the strainer straw that you use to drink Mate through. I will have a post on Mate and explain this more.


Dale-- Just sort of the way someone will agree with you. Like alright.


Claro--Another one....its sort of like their yea...but not like a yes yea more like a yea mom I'm listening to you while you tell me the same thing about staying safe and not being stupid in a foreign country for the thousandth time kind of yea.


Mira Vos-- Again the Porteños use the word vos....its like the equivalent of Look at You...in a good way.


Coger-- If you go out to a club or a biloche and you see the two people on the dance floor that are ''dancing'' but you know that someone is getting some that night....that is when this word would be appropriate to shout....sort of the equivalent of shouting ''get some'' at those people in the states.


Chanta-- This one means like a swindler....someone who is sort of smarmy.


Boludo--So when I first learned this word in the States I was told it was asshole. Then I got to Argentina and heard everyone calling everyone else boludo. Little kids, old people, friends, and enemies are all boludo. I was extremely confused so I asked my Porteño friend what the word meant and he looked at me dead in the face, like I was an idiot and said, asshole. Now I don't know about you but I find it fascinating that everyone just goes around all day everyday calling each other assholes. Now naturally the connotation of the word changes depending on how you say it, but I still think its funny because at the heart of it all everyone is still a boludo or an asshole. At least that is one thing these Porteños definitely have right. Its also one of the reasons I knew I would fit in here. Not because I enjoy calling people assholes, but I like the fact that I could be a total asshole and its okay because everyone's going to call me one anyway.